Tradition and modernity: Alevis' ambiguous terms and Turkey's ambivalent subjects

Erdemir, Aykan

doi:10.1080/00263200500262033

Cited by 53 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Yet the public-funded institution serves only the Hanefi Sunni community and not the ca. 20-30% Alevites or minority Christians and Jews living in Turkey (Erdemir, 2005). on the propitious relationship between tradition and state policy was rendered moot by this radical revolt against all forms of "revisionism." In effect, Maoism took the stead of Confucianism as the state ideology which brooked no challenge.…”

Section: Coercive Secularisms and Forcible Integration: Kemalist Turkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Gradations of Secularism: The Consociational, Communal and Coercive Paradigms

Farha

2012

Comp Sociol

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In engaging with heterogeneous societies, states have oscillated between three modes of dealing with social diversity: accommodation, segregation and eradication. Accordingly, this article cross-examines three typologies of secularism: Consociational secularism (Lebanon), communal partition (India and Pakistan) and coercive secularization (China and Turkey). The article argues that while each state shared the challenge of establishing state sovereignty in pluralistic societies, the central authorities' attempt to impose homogenization varied according to the strength of state institutions, the hold of communal ideologies and the degree of disparate socio-economic interests. The legitimacy of regimes hinged on the perceived impartiality of the state in meeting the demands of diverse socio-economic and ethno-religious constituencies. The article argues that the potential for fragmentation was particularly high when socio-economic fault-lines overlapped with, and reinforced ethno-religious fissures. When sectarian solidarity trumped loyalty to the state, partition along communal lines unfolded within the caldron of civil war, as was the case in Lebanon in 1975 and the Indian Subcontinent in 1947 and 1971. By contrast, the authoritarian states of Maoist China and Kemalist Turkey could enforce, albeit violently and at great human cost, a rigidly secular, cultural homogenization in part because they were perceived to be lessening socioeconomic inequalities despite their assault on traditional identities. In all cases, and regardless of whether or not a dominant majority existed or not, sovereignty and state legitimacy was ultimately predicated not so much on the absence or presence of democracy or diversity, but on the provision of a critical measure of justice for all citizens irrespective of origin or identity. 4) That sectarian solidarities are by no means a sufficient guarantee of unity became evident during the partition of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.

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Section: Coercive Secularisms and Forcible Integration: Kemalist Turkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Gradations of Secularism: The Consociational, Communal and Coercive Paradigms

Farha

2012

Comp Sociol

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“…It is not even clear that this vision of balancing one form of patriarchy against another is always a positive approach in the more mainstream Islamic countries, where the study of outlying regions far from national capitals sometimes reveals surprisingly liberal and egalitarian customary behavior hidden behind the Islamic ideologies of male dominance -as has been argued is the case with some of the social relations of the Alevi in Anatolia (Erdimir 2005) and other outlying folk minorities.…”

Section: Conclusion: the Dialectic Of Patriarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Determination and Women's Rights in Muslim Societies

Raghavan¹,

Levine²

2012

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“…In January 2016, the head of Turkey's top religious authority, the Presidency of Religious Affairs ( Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı , PRA), a prominent institution within the Republic, reiterated the body's long‐standing objection to the official recognition of cemevis , the places of worship of Alevis . The Alevis comprise the second largest faith community after Sunni Muslims in Turkey, estimated at fifteen to twenty‐five per cent of the population of Turkey (Erdemir : 938). The matter of how to approach Alevi identity is highly contested; it has been considered through ethnic, cultural, political and religious terms, as within and outside Islam and as ethnically Turkish or Kurdish .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The designation ‘Alevi’ is taken here as an “umbrella” (but not necessarily synonymous) term for various heterogonous communities, such as Bektashi and Kızılbaş (Erdemir ; Sökefeld ; Zırh ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Between Islam and the nation; nation‐building, the ulama and Alevi identity in Turkey

Lord¹

2016

Nations and Nationalism

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This article analyses the relationship between Islam and nationalism by considering the role of the ulama in Turkey, housed within the Presidency of Religious Affairs (PRA). The ulama – religious scholars and experts of Islamic law – in Muslim majority contexts are typically closely linked with the state and play a key role in shaping the boundaries of Islam and of what is Islamically acceptable. However, this is also of consequence for the boundaries of the nation, since in Turkey Islam and nationalism has been intertwined, with Islam playing a central role in nation‐building, as a basis of ethnic identity formation and a source of symbols and myths. This articles shows, firstly, that the PRA has acted as a carrier and preserver of Sunni (Hanefi) Muslim identity in continuity with the Ottoman ulama and, secondly, that it has delimited nation‐building, by considering its approach to and interventions against Alevi identity.

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Tradition and modernity: Alevis' ambiguous terms and Turkey's ambivalent subjects

Cited by 53 publications

References 11 publications

Global Gradations of Secularism: The Consociational, Communal and Coercive Paradigms

Global Gradations of Secularism: The Consociational, Communal and Coercive Paradigms

Self-Determination and Women's Rights in Muslim Societies

Between Islam and the nation; nation‐building, the ulama and Alevi identity in Turkey

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